The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) has told the public they must not be “fooled” into purchasing e-tags for e-tolling, while the union aims to make e-tolling “uncollectable”.
HumanIPO reported earlier this month that the South African Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said e-tolling would be all systems go within the next two months.
However, Ben Martins, minister of transport, said in January e-tolling would be ready for implementation by the end of March. The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) rubbished this claim.
“Fellow South Africans must join hands with unions, the general public, and civil society calling for an end to e-tolling. We must not back down as this fight is one worth fighting until the end,” the Times Live quoted Tahir Sema, spokesperson for Samwu as saying.
Sema added: “This union strongly believes that the pressure of the masses is crucial to forcing government to back down on this blatant extortion.”
Furthermore Sema said the country’s roads are a national asset and not a source of private profit or “handsome profit for tenderpreneurs”.
Sanral is also planning e-tolling in the Western Cape on the N1 and N2 Winelands route as well as five additional tolls across South Africa.
